The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Currently, it's only 78...and 85% humidity! :yuck: It was hotter mid-afternoon, of course. I'm hoping some of the thunderstorms that have just rolled through are bringing a more pleasant change of temperature, but the ones we got every other day this week only seem to be bringing worse and worse heat and humidity. :grumpy:

Currently, it's only 78...and 85% humidity! :yuck: It was hotter mid-afternoon, of course. I'm hoping some of the thunderstorms that have just rolled through are bringing a more pleasant change of temperature, but the ones we got every other day this week only seem to be bringing worse and worse heat and humidity. :grumpy:

We got a line of them last week that led to the formation of either a tornado or a VERY strong microburst that snapped hundreds of huge trees on the shore a pond a couple of miles from here, smashing camps, lake-side homes, vehicles, etc. Trees with trunks 2-3' in diameter were snapped like twigs, and those that would not snap were uprooted. Power may be restored there in a week or so - restoration of damaged buildings and clean-up of debris will take months, at best.

Parts of my garden were flattened by the storms, although I have shored up the pepper plants, re-braced the tomato plants, re-trellised my squash and cucumbers, and it looks like most everything will recover. Some of the "convenience" plantings like a windowbox of cucumbers on the rail of the back deck are a loss. Cucumber plants can stand some stress, but a 15' fall off a railing to the ground is pushing the envelope.

3 nights ago there was this big storm and it rained all evening and all night - first very hard, then some of the drops fell frozen and finally there was a thuinderstorm - all rain and lightning and thunder and A few times I went up to the window and imagined that I was in a horror movie and a mad scientist upstairs was making his monster. :rofl:

Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Meteorologists confirmed that yesterday's storms in the New York area included a tornado that cut a 9-mile path through Staten Island and Brooklyn.

The twister, estimated to have winds of between 111-135 miles (179-217 kilometers) an hour, damaged the roofs of 11 homes in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, and later tore off the roof of a car dealership at the corner of 66th Street and Fifth Avenue, the U.S. Weather Service said in a report on its Web site.

The tornado, which touched down in Staten Island at about 6:22 a.m. local time, caused extensive damage to trees, the service said. The tornado was a Category 2 on the 0-5 classification scale used by the weather service, in which 5 is the most powerful. [continued]

I was once in a tornado in Long Beach, Ca. We didn't realized what was happening until we heard the choo choo effect. Luckily it wasn't large enough to do serious damage to the building.

Had a close call in Frankfurt, Indiana. A large tornado passed right by my hotel in the middle of the night. I awoke to the "take cover" warning on the TV! That was a bit exciting. I was in a Holiday Inn located right in the middle of about 600 sq miles of corn fields.